How to interrupt Console.ReadLine

Question

Is it possible to stop the Console.ReadLine() programmatically?

I have a console application: the much of the logic runs on a different thread and in th

Answer 1

Disclaimer: This is just a copy & paste answer.

Thanks to Gérald Barré for providing such a great solution:
https://www.meziantou.net/cancelling-console-read.htm

Documentation for CancelIoEX:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/cancelioex-func

I tested it on Windows 10. It works great and is way less "hacky" than the other solutions (like reimplementing Console.ReadLine, sending return via PostMessage or closing the handle as in the accepted answer)

In case the site goes down I cite the code snippet here:

class Program
{
    const int STD_INPUT_HANDLE = -10;

    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    internal static extern IntPtr GetStdHandle(int nStdHandle);

    [DllImport("kernel32.dll", SetLastError = true)]
    static extern bool CancelIoEx(IntPtr handle, IntPtr lpOverlapped);

    static void Main(string[] args)
    {
        // Start the timeout
        var read = false;
        Task.Delay(10000).ContinueWith(_ =>
        {
            if (!read)
            {
                // Timeout => cancel the console read
                var handle = GetStdHandle(STD_INPUT_HANDLE);
                CancelIoEx(handle, IntPtr.Zero);
            }
        });

        try
        {
            // Start reading from the console
            Console.WriteLine("Do you want to continue [Y/n] (10 seconds remaining):");
            var key = Console.ReadKey();
            read = true;
            Console.WriteLine("Key read");
        }
        // Handle the exception when the operation is canceled
        catch (InvalidOperationException)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Operation canceled");
        }
        catch (OperationCanceledException)
        {
            Console.WriteLine("Operation canceled");
        }
    }
}